Weekend Read: A Tale of Two Lies – Part II: The Two-State Solution
Editors’ Note: We suggest also reading Part 1 of A Tale of Two Lies – Jewish Settler Colonialism published two weeks ago in The Prickly Pear. The author’s accurate history of the state of Israel and the well documented distortions presented to the world since 1948 are particularly relevant to the existential threat Israel is currently faced with since October 7th. Note the excellent conclusion of Part II concerning the House Freedom Caucus Resolution. Its substance deals directly with the Tale of Two Lies and hopefully will be a path forward for America’s critical support of Israel within one year.
The UN Partition of 1947 was established on the principle that both the Arabs and Jews had legitimate claims to the land. It was the first significant effort to resolve the growing conflict between the combined Arab states, the local Arab population and the growing and prosperous Jewish community within the region of the former British Mandate.
The Partition must be understood as the first two state solution. The Jewish population was ecstatic for one reason and one reason only. It meant sovereignty. The truncated borders, shrunken again and again by international commissions, meant the area was barely defensible and a great part of it was the Negev desert.
It was a miracle that it happened at all. Major credit must go to President Harry Truman. He pressed for its nationhood and recognized Israel eleven minutes after Independence was declared on May 14, 1948.
Truman turned out to be the most prominent “Christian Zionist” of his day. He would soon be followed by others including a massive, evangelical movement of Christian Zionists,,in which John Hagee of Texas, and many others friendly to the new Jewish state played a part. This included, not surprisingly nearly the whole of the influential Jewish community.
America had been founded by Puritans and other Christians seeking freedom from religious persecution in the New World, Their faith often included a strain of Judeophilia or philosemitism. This was in sharp contrast to the more prevalent antisemitism in Europe.
Our founding Documents acknowledged this, as President Washington underscored when he said may all “…sit in safety under the same fig tree..” in his letter to the Hebrew Congregation of Rhode Island in 1790. The Judeo-Christian foundation of the values of the Republic were reflected during the period leading up to the Civil War when more than half of all recorded Christian sermons were based upon the Old Testament.
Destiny, or Providence as some might say, placed Truman, the right man in the right place at the right moment as a Jewish state was reborn once again going back from the time of the occupation of the “promised land” to the First and Second Temples and from a series of unsuccessful revolts against Rome, they always sought a state of their own in the region.
The First Two-State Solution
The day following the UN declaration, the five Arab armies of Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Trans-Jordan and Lebanon declared war on Israel. Sovereignty in any form for the Jews was considered by the Arabs to be a grievous injustice. It was an impermissible insult and assault on Islam.
The Arab Higher Committee issued a statement that “All of Palestine must be Arab”. Jamal al Husseini vowed that “the blood will flow like rivers in the Middle East.” And indeed it did and continues to this day.
The Nakba – the Emotional Lie
This brief summary of the failure of the first two state solution in modern times would not be complete without a discussion of the Nakba, or “Catastrophe”. The Nakba refers to the alleged “ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from the region” – that is, from the Jewish territory.
Despite the UN partition deliberately establishing Israel in a Jewish majority area, Arabs claimed the opposite was true. Despite Israeli efforts to dissuade Arabs from leaving their zone, the Arab Higher Committee spread information that the Jews would commit genocide upon those Arabs who remained and urged them to leave. The “taquiyya,” also know as the “prudential,” or “Noble Lie” is permitted towards infidels in Islam. Shamelessly, this falsehood was visited upon their own Arab brethren.
The fellaheen were promised their homes would be returned to them upon the inevitable Arab victory.Many Muslim Arabs remained and though the Arab armies war failed, Muslim Arabs today constitute 21% of the Israeli citizenry.
Deir Yassin
Military clashes were picking up during the period prior to partition. One of these was an attack by Israeli militias on Deir Yassin, an Arab village on the road between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. It was located on high ground and considered to be a strategic location. It must be said that, during any war, atrocities happen and those committing them have a vested interest in denying them as do those who embellish them. The fighting there was indeed fierce.
This event remains a rallying cry for Jihadis to this very day. It is often fused with the larger narrative of Nakba because of its emotional potency. Emotions are used to effectively seal ideological positions which otherwise may retain an abstract quality.
There is no shortage of accounts of the “Deir Yassin” incident since it played an important part in the 1948 war. The most credible “worst” account published at the time by the Arab Higher Committee held that 254 arabs had been massacred out of a town 750 people. The numbers have since been embellished.
Let us assume for the moment that the initial account is true. And, let’s remember that the event follows 2 1/2 decades of pogroms mobilized by the Grand Mufti and others during the British Mandate. The total number of murdered innocent Jews would have exceeded those of the Muslim Arabs in this battle.
Searching the Internet, I could not find accounts of the ‘massacre’ that were properly documented from the Arab side. I did uncover what appears to be a thoroughly researched and documented account of the accusation from an Israeli scholar who interviewed villagers and soldiers, collected documents, testimonials and compared them. Here is the summary of the book on the subject:
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/deir-yassin-the-end-of-a-myth/
Eliezer Tauber, the author, concludes that there was no massacre at all. None. Zip. Many of the accounts of Jews and Arabs present in the village at the time match in fine details and provide a consistent account of a very ordinary, if hard-fought military battle, in which the Israelis prevailed.
The local Arabs that fled with the soon to be defeated armies were granted no home in nearby Arab countries. They were confined for the most part to displaced persons camps administered by the UN in one form or another. They abided there as second class citizens rather than being absorbed into the nations where they dwelled.
The Arabs did not want them and refused to absorb them as citizens. Instead, they suffered as pawns in the intransigent effort to eliminate Israel. This is the origin for the so-called Right of Return. In my view, this rejection of their own people was the true Nakba, the true Catastrophe.
Politically, this event is used by the radical left here and in Europe to paint the Zionist project as fascistic. Though false in every respect, the charge does serve the purpose of giving fence-sitters a chance to adopt the view of ‘a plague on both your houses,’ and fuels the rage of the committed Jihadis.
In dramatic contrast to Arab refusal to integrate displaced Arabs in the aftermath of Israel’s victory in its War of Independence, 140,000 Holocaust survivors migrated to Israel. In addition, the perpetual persecutions and periodic pogroms that characterized Jewish life in countries like Yemen and Aden, Iraq, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, had reached an intolerable state after Israel’s victory. Between 1949 and 1952, some 650,000 more Jews migrated to the newly independent state from those countries.
The contrast couldn’t be starker. Arab nations refused to accept Palestinians while Israel welcomed a suffering people. After WW II, mass population transfers in the millions settled disputes all over the globe. In the middle east no such humanitarian outcomes were permitted.
The One-State Solution Period
The Muslim Arabs nations never had anything else in mind for the region than a ‘one-state solution’. This arose during a period when the newly minted Arab nationalism fused with the ancient ideal of the islamic Ummah. This view emerged from various local developments such as Wahhabism in Saudi Arabia and the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.
Muslim absolutism has never been universal to the faith but was and remains strongest within the Arab world. Nevertheless, distant Muslim nations were prepared to support their Arab brethren at the UN and other forums. The singular goal was to isolate and eventually eliminate the Jewish state. The battle raged diplomatically for twenty years.
The Six Days War
The ‘Six Days War’ or what is known as ‘War of 1967’ changed the face of the Middle East. During October of 1967, Nasser increased tensions by mobilizing tens of thousands of troops in the Sinai. He also deployed air force squadrons to the region.
Reconnaissance flights over Israel’s Dimona Nuclear Reactor by the Egyptiian was the last straw and the compelling signal that Israel better act first. Israel quickly prevailed once more against a foe that believed itself to be far stronger.
The territory added to Israel following its decisive victory included the whole of the Sinai, Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) to the Jordan River, the Golan Heights and most of Jerusalem. These new borders made defense much easier.
The Yom Kippur War of 1973
Yom Kipper is the holiest day on the Jewish Calendar. It is the day during which every believing Jew makes accounts with his Creator. It is a day of fasting and prayer. Israel had slipped into a degree of complacency due to overconfidence and arrogance. On October 5, in the early morning hours three million Jews were awakened with the shock of the sounds of war and the warning blasts of sirens.
Egyptian and Syrian armies, tank battalions and air-forces launched a strategic surprise attack on two fronts and successfully crossed into the Sinai in the south and onto the Golan Heights in the northeast. The outlook was grim for Israel but they quickly scrambled in part because everyone was available and not at work due to the holiday.
Israel rallied mightily in the face of brave and determined Arab fighters. The Israeli Air force had at 46-1 victory ratio in dogfights which exceed the 9-1 ration in the 1967 War. The IDF lost 106 planes due to anti-aircraft fire. The Golan heights were recovered in fierce tank warfare and Israel was soon positioned to march on the Syrian capital and even on Cairo.
At this juncture, the superpowers jumped in forcing a truce. Yet, despite the military victory, the mood of the Israelis was newly fearful with much grieving as they recognized anew they were facing an existential threat that would not go away.
The Egyptians counter-intuitively were buoyant, and felt their pride has been restored after the outright 1967 defeat. Their armed forces fought more gallantly and were able to hold their heads up high despite the reality of mediocre performance and heavy losses.
Ironically, this newly felt Egyptian pride paradoxically opened a path to peace with Israel. In Egypt it was believed that they were equals with Israel. In 1978, the Camp David Accords were signed in Washington DC by Sadat and Begin and were presided over by President Jimmy Carter. The peace agreement has lasted to this day.
Oslo Accords of 1993
The issue of s two state solution once again took center stage.with the Oslo Accords. This effort continued through several U.S. Administrations always ending in failure. This history deserves its own summary which I will summarize in Part 3 and relates directly to Biden’s plans.
The Biden Administration is currently calling for a Palestinian state with sovereignty. Recently, Biden’s people met with several parties without including Israel which will render the call stillborn. Nevertheless, the battle over who will rule in Gaza is beginning to unfold.
House Freedom Caucus Resolution
Trump, in contrast, was the first President not to offer a two-state solution. Instead he launched the Abraham Accords, ratified Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights and acknowledged Jerusalem as the capitol of Israel.
On March 4, 2024, under the chairmanship of Bob Good of Virginia, the House Freedom Caucus put forth a resolution asserting three principles:
(1) Condemning all calls for a ceasefire. (Israel must decide its own fate.)
(2) Opposing a two-state solution as no recipe for peace.
(3) Ending funding for UNRWA. (Many UNRWA operatives have joint membership in Hamas and funnel monies and goods to Hamas).
The Caucus is also calling for a stand-alone bill. There would be more support for Israel if funding for Ukraine or for a phony border bill were not fused into one Bill as it is now. A stand-alone Bill is likely to carry the House and the Senate. The Freedom Caucus, mindful of trillions in debt, seeks a cut in IRS spending and a defunding of UNRWA. to finance their call for Israeli military aid.
Politicians must consider the national interest. The Freedom Caucus knows who our real friends and allies are and how crucial the alliance with Israel is and has been to maintain our influence in this crucial region of the world. They know these two democracies stand together against a region of dictatorships.
Yet the Caucus represents a deeper emotional and spiritual commitment to Israel going back to our Founding. Christian Zionism, remains a part of our national ethos and motivates a majority of the Caucus. They may not wear it on their sleeves but it is in their hearts.
